Agenda item

To receive a report from the Democratic Services Manager (copy enclosed) reviewing and updating the terms of reference for the Member Area Groups.

The Democratic Services Manager (DSM) introduced a report (previously circulated) about reviewing and updating the terms of reference for the Member Area Groups (MAG). The matter was presented to the committee following comments raised by members recently as the current Terms of Reference were lacking sufficient detail.

Members were informed that the draft terms were attached as appendix one of the report. The DSM assured members that the draft was in the early stages, and would be going to Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting, as senior officers played a vital role within the MAG meetings. The report would then go to Corporate Governance and Audit committee, and then finally to Council. The committee suggested that the terms of reference would benefit from going to each MAG.

The maps within the report were outlined, they were outdated and would be updated to reflect the current MAG areas at a future date. The members were reminded that the groups were not decision making groups, it was an advisory role on local matters, with no delegated powers.

The committee went through the new terms of reference highlighting areas of interest throughout the draft Terms of Reference.

·         Membership - The committee felt the matter of membership was overall confusing, this was due to the maps being outdated, but that some small villages would feed into towns outside of the members MAG area. The Dee Valley MAG was raised as the attendance at the meeting was currently standing at three members, members felt the MAG area would benefit by increasing the area of influence. The DSM responded that there would be a fourth member elected for the Dee Valley MAG and there were two members from the Ruthin MAG invited to Dee Valley MAG meetings, however they rarely attended.

·         Chair and Vice Chair – There was no comments from the committee with regards to the appointments of chairs and vice chairs.

·         Voting – the committee welcomed the information within the terms of reference as currently the voting at MAG’s was generally consensus based. However the members felt due to each MAG having varying amount of members, that a percentage method of voting be implemented for fairness rather than a majority method of voting.

·         Quorum - There was no comments from the committee with regards to the quorum aspect of the terms of reference.

·         Forward Work Programmes – The DSM advised members that it was beneficial to convey as much information as possible when they wanted items to be included on the forward work programme, this would ensure all officers involved would understand what was being requested.

·         Attendance and Observers at MAG meetings and Support for the MAGs Both items within the terms of reference were not discussed more than the details contained within the report.

·         Document Distribution and Access – The committee queried whether the documents received for MAGS could be circulated with those outside of the meetings. The committee felt that some documents shared within the MAGS would benefit local people. The committee felt that MAG documents should indicate whether a document was confidential. MAG members should then be free to share documents not marked as confidential without restriction.

·         Filming and Use of Social Media during Meetings – The committee felt that the filming and use of social media during MAG meetings should not be permitted, contrary to the draft terms of reference which stated that the majority should agree first.

The committee queried whether any informal meetings of MAG members were to follow the same rules within the terms of reference. The DSM clarified that they would not be required to follow the rules as they would be gatherings of MAG area members, and not MAG meetings.

RESOLVED that

(i)    The committee endorse the draft terms of reference for further consultation,

(ii)  The Member Area Groups be consulted on the draft terms of reference.